While it's a shame that it was shut down, I think it was time we moved on to more fruitful endeavors (no shuttle pun intended), but I do think they should have had their next program in mind as they cancelled the shuttle, rather than scrapping Constellation and now on to SLS.

The Space Shuttle was an amazing program that launched us into a new age of reusable space transport, but it was inefficient and it was old. It was simply a stepping stone into the future, and it was a good thing it was retired, to make way for new things.

While it's a shame that it was shut down, I think it was time we moved on to more fruitful endeavors (no shuttle pun intended), but I do think they should have had their next program in mind as they cancelled the shuttle, rather than scrapping Constellation and now on to SLS.

To bring this up again, it's not all bad that there was no rocket waiting for the space shuttle's retirement. It pushed NASA to turn to the commercial sector for manned flight which in turn helped boost commercial companies. Elon Musk said in some interview that, had it not been for NASA funding from the COTS program, the Falcon 9 would have been developed at a much slower pace. They may not have even launched a Falcon 9 yet if they didn't get the funding from NASA, which was a result of not having a rocket waiting for the space shuttle's retirement

To bring this up again, it's not all bad that there was no rocket waiting for the space shuttle's retirement. It pushed NASA to turn to the commercial sector for manned flight which in turn helped boost commercial companies. Elon Musk said in some interview that, had it not been for NASA funding from the COTS program, the Falcon 9 would have been developed at a much slower pace. They may not have even launched a Falcon 9 yet if they didn't get the funding from NASA, which was a result of not having a rocket waiting for the space shuttle's retirement

Encledus, Titan, and Europa are my favorite moons, because of the slight chance they might harbor life.

Edited:

Another exposure, do you guys know the best time for one? This has a little star trail.

Is it just me or is the moon VERY close nowadays?
Living in The Netherlands btw, maybe I just didn't notice it before.

The moon is in fact getting further away from Earth slowly every year.

The Moon's orbit (its circular path around the Earth) is indeed getting larger, at a rate of about 3.8 centimeters per year. (The Moon's orbit has a radius of 384,000 km.) I wouldn't say that the Moon is getting closer to the Sun, specifically, though--it is getting farther from the Earth, so, when it's in the part of its orbit closest to the Sun, it's closer, but when it's in the part of its orbit farthest from the Sun, it's farther away.